404 Errors data:image/png%3Bbase64%

What is it?

[Kickedout]

I have over 200 of this 404 error showing in my awstats

data:image/png%3Bbase64%2CiVBORw0KGgo.....
(and more of the same for a massive referral string)

(and other similar)

What is it?
Can I just redirect 301 to a banner image in my site?

[edited by: mademetop at 9:13 am (utc) on May 5, 2012]
[edit reason] Bring lines to a sensible length for browsing the thread [/edit]

[g1smd]

Are you using MediaWiki ?

[Kickedout]

nope

[lucy24]

As with most 404s, you don't need to do anything. That's assuming you didn't do anything in the first place to make the visitor think you have a data:image file. It's one of a handful of nonexistent files that perfectly law-abiding visitors will sometimes ask for. (There's a list somewhere, but I can't remember where.)

data:image is a way to store a tiny image, like an icon, as raw data instead of a separate image file. That is: you could use it on big images, but the data file would be huge. If you ever get bored, there are www sites where you can feed in an image and it will spit out the data:image code for you.

[Dijkgraaf]

See this thread from 2 years ago.
[webmasterworld.com...]
The theory is that Google Toolbar is possibly to blame by incorrectly inserting graphics into the page.

Some people tried to do a 301 redirect, but they didn't work.